The present invention relates to an automated coating system which may be utilized to coat bearing assemblies.
Prior to the present invention, employees of a bearing manufacturer conducted an experiment in regard to the coating of bearing assemblies. The apparatus used by the bearing manufacturer employees in conducting the experiment is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The apparatus included a cylindrical housing 20 having a chamber 22 into which a tray 24 was manually inserted. The tray 24 had a perforated support surface 26 upon which a bearing assembly 28 was supported.
When the tray 24, with the bearing assembly 28 supported therein, had been manually inserted into the chamber 22, an ultrasonic atomizer 32 was operated to direct a flow of coating material into the chamber 22. Air was conducted into the chamber 22 from an inlet conduit 34. Air was conducted from the chamber 22 through an outlet conduit 36.
Thereafter, the tray 24 was manually pulled out of the housing 20. The bearing assembly 28 was manually turned over so that an axially opposite side of the bearing assembly 28 faced upward. The tray 24 was then manually inserted back into the chamber 22. The ultrasonic atomizer 32 was again operated to spray coating material into the chamber 22 while a flow of air was conducted from the conduit 34 through the chamber to the conduit 36. The tray 24 was then manually pulled out of the housing 20. The bearing assembly 28 was manually removed from the tray 24 and the bearing races were rotated.
Although an ultrasonic atomizer 32 was utilized to dispense coating material during the foregoing experiment, it was contemplated by the employees of the bearing manufacturer that other coating systems could be utilized. Specifically, it was contemplated that the "Unicarb" (trademark) process of Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Technology Corporation of Danbury, Conn. could be utilized to coat the bearing assembly. A known method and apparatus which may be used with the "Unicarb" (trademark) process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,443 issued Feb. 18, 1992 and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Spraying a Liquid Coating Containing Supercritical Fluid or Liquified Gas" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,253 issued Jun. 1, 1993 and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Forming and Dispersing Single and Multiple Phase Coating Material Containing Fluid Diluent".